Geology workshop provides valuable field trip and more

Part of the OOGEEP two-day workshops is a visit to Kimble Cos. to see and learn about coal mining, energy services, solid waste recycling and disposal services, and clay and limestone aggregate products. Matt Olson, a 7th and 8th grade science teacher at Lowellville Junior/Senior High School, found this trip particularly useful. Olson said, "In my ten years of teaching middle school science, I have been to many workshops but none have given me the experience that I had that day. To hear from real people in the field was inspiring. A landfill isn’t as simple as digging a hole and filling it, that’s for sure!"

Olson also appreciated the hands-on activities on the first day of the workshop. He said, "To be given all of the materials to bring home was just like icing on the cake! Overall, it was honestly a great experience."

He presented the Puzzling Evidence and Modeling Sea Floor Spreading lessons from the Active Earth: From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics Geology unit to his students.

Olson said his students struggled with the continental drift lesson, but were able to figure it out by comparing their maps with students around them. He used the sea floor spreading lesson as an introduction to the concept. "Watching the kids feed the strips into the mid-ocean ridge and ultimately down into the subduction zones made me smile. I literally watched the light bulb come on in some of their heads as they were doing it!"

Experience these great activities yourself at next summer's teacher workshops!